Human Cognition and Culture – Witchcraft and Slavery (first 14pgs)

Witchcraft, Poison, Law, and Atlantic Slavery – Paton, 2012

• Jamaica and St. Domingue built on sugar wealth where 90% of their societies were forced into slavery and consumed thousands of imported Africans each year
• Caucasian slave owners feared the most when slaves used mystical chants and medicines that they perceived as protective shields for their rebellion as well as poison against the slave owners. -> occurred during the Makandal conspiracy and Tacky’s rebellion
• Both Makandal and Tacky were seen as separate entities borne from different reasons, Makandal stemmed from covert poisoning via spiritual medicines as a way to break free from slavery while Tacky stemmed from a classic slave rebellion in which mystical chants (obeah which is Caribbean sorcery) and spiritualism protected the rebellion. However, both center around mysticism and ancient spiritualism.
• Obeah was classed as a crime even though it highly resembled European witchcraft at the time had lasting effects. At the time Europeans were discrediting witchcraft and moving towards science, but they were scared and wanted to punish the “witchcraft” done by slaves without making themselves seem foolish for believing in it, hence they took the term obeah which was actually used to described spiritual medicine amongst others, and generalized it to have a negative connotation encompassing witchcraft.

• Questions:
  1. Why was obeah specifically criminalized when other places had similar obeah like beliefs that weren’t criminalized, like “conjure” in the US and “quimbois” in Guadeloupe (I actually know this place from a British murder mystery show)
  2. Why did French colonialists fear ritualistic poisons while British Caribbean slave holders feared obeah more?

• In the beginning malicious poisoning and witchcraft were in the same realm because poisonings take time to work and it seemed like witchcraft, even though poisonings relied on the material world and witchcraft relied on the spiritual realm. As time progressed witchcraft became decriminalized because it was an imaginary power, but in France they moved away from witchcraft because of the abundance of poisoning which was a real threat.
• At the height of these ordeals, poison and witchcraft were different crimes, but usually witchcraft included the use of poison or was an aspect in some shape of witchcraft. However as mentioned before witchcraft became decriminalized with the rising popularity of science and the need for nations to be united in their judicial systems.
• In France by the time the 18^th century hit, poison attacks normally considered as witchcraft was now considered just as poisonings, hence leading to the eventual fade of witchcraft.
• In France in 1682, 3 years before Code Noir which regulated slavery, they had passed a law that regulated poisons and dismissed witchcraft.
• In England in 1736 the Witchcraft Act was passed where they made it illegal to practice any kind of witchcraft and was deemed as an imaginary power. This act also made it illegal to accuse someone of being a witch.
• The stark difference between English and French histories of dealing with witchcraft led to different ideaolgies, hence why the French moved towards poisons since that is what was most common in the area while in the English areas it was not. This made it harder to separate from witchcraft and may be why the English calls witchcraft imaginary at a later date than the French. Also English areas still highly believed in witchcraft even though the laws said it didn’t exist.
• When Africans arrived in the 17^th and 18^th century they came from societies where mysticism was a part of daily life. These powers were used for both good and bad however their words for physical substances that were powerful were translated generally as poison even though they may only cause a pharmacological reaction which may be beneficial.  Important to note that in early history of African culture in Sierra Leone there is no mention of witchcraft or trying to find witches but rather spiritual practices. Therefore when they arrived as slaves they knew more about people being able to affect others spiritually rather than the idea of a witch.
• Slaves saw their slave owners as witches at first because they feared they would be consumed in an act of cannibalism which was deeply connected to witchcraft at the time.
• Even though witchcraft was in the decline in French and English nations, after they took slaves from west Africa, the notion of witchcraft boomed again in that region. Slaves were normally decapitated if they were in suspect of poison or witchcraft, this continued from 1787 to the early 19^th century.
• In western central Africa the idea of witches were more widespread with presence in the Kongo in the 17^th and 18^th century where witches would perform magic via cannibalism.
• A stark difference between English and African witches was that African witches did not need to make a pact with the devil but rather used occult practices to increase their own wealth and power while harming the community in the process.
  
  1. Question: How did West and West-Central African concepts of witchcraft, the witch, and the influence of spiritual power on human life and relationships relate to ideas about poison?

• In these areas the use of poison was linked to ritual practices and the effects of poison could be made stronger using a stronger spirit. Therefore they believed that poisons could become spiritually charged, linking them to a form of witchcraft.
• Poison ordeals were also prevalent as a way to test non-human beings, for example people suspected of being non-human were forced to drink a less harmful poison and if they didn’t vomit they were deemed as being other worldly. This was widespread throughout Africa and Atlantic Africa. They also used this for simpler crimes like thievery in which the innocent would vomit but if you were not innocent of the crime then you would not. Almost prove yourself to be innocent by drinking this poison and having a reaction. In the 19^th and 20^th century this method was used as a witch finding technique in West Central Africa.
• Therefore African slaves brought to the Americas had similar ideologies about witches to some extent with their slave owners in the sense that they all believed spiritual practices in combination with physical substances could be used to harm another person.
• Given the horrifying conditions of being a slave and exposed to all the new things, the slaves relied on whatever means they could to protect themselves by using spiritual techniques from home as well as incorporating things from Europe and America. For example they used cloth pouches called Bolas De Mandingas which had roots and herbs as well as Christian or Islamic prayers written inside them to act as protection. In St. Domingue these were called Makandals -> which is what the poisoning conspiracy was named after.

The use of these kinds of things was widespread with slaves in Dominica using grave dirt in bottles, and Georgia slaves using conjure bags